


School Material

by SummerStormFlower



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Arguments, Brotherly Love, Brothers, Comfort, Gen, Self Esteem Issues, Teenagers, vent fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:29:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23960842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SummerStormFlower/pseuds/SummerStormFlower
Summary: Dewey doesn’t think he’s smart unless he’s “school smart”. Louie thinks otherwise.
Relationships: Dewey Duck & Huey Duck & Louie Duck, Dewey Duck & Louie Duck
Comments: 12
Kudos: 114





	School Material

When Louie walked into their room, there was yelling. 

“Dewey, don’t be ridiculous!” Huey shouted, throwing his hands up in exhaustion. This must have been going on for awhile. “There are different kinds of smart! You’re smart in your own way!” he said. 

“I don’t wanna hear that from you,” Dewey bit back angrily, then turned and shoved past Louie on his way out. 

Huey sighed. 

“What happened?” Louie asked, plopping down in his green beanbag chair. 

“Report cards were today,” Huey replied. 

Louie made a sound of understanding. Report card day was always tough on Dewey. 

“How bad were his grades?”

“I don’t know. He wouldn’t let me see them. He didn’t even want to look at them!” Huey gestured to Dewey’s bed, where the envelope sat unopened. 

“Oh come on. They can’t be that bad,” Louie said. 

“I tried telling him that,” proclaimed Huey, “I mean, he always gets a good mark in music. And woodwork! And drama!”

“He’s gotten better at sewing too.”

“I know! He’s selling himself short.” Huey sighed, crossing his arms. “He’s being a drama queen.”

Louie frowned thoughtfully. “Is he?”

Huey blinked. “Uh, yeah!”

Louie shook his head. “He’s not. This is a big deal to him, Huey. You wouldn’t understand.”

“What?! What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you’re fricking valedictorian, and he’s living in your shadow.” 

Huey opened his beak, but nothing came out. 

Louie sighed. “When you say he’s smart, it’s just patronizing to him.”

“I... I never thought of it like that,” Huey muttered, “I didn’t mean to—“

“I know you didn’t,” Louie said. Then stood up. “I’ll go talk to him.”

•

Louie found Dewey by the pool, his feet in the water.

“Hey,” he said, sitting down beside him. 

Dewey huffed. “I don’t wanna look at my report card.”

“I didn’t say you had to,” Louie said. “Have you shown Uncle Donald yet?”

“No.”

“Uncle Scrooge?”

A scoff. “No.”

“Mom?”

“Especially not Mom.”

Louie looked at him, sharp eyes prying open his soul. “Dewey, you know it’s just a paper with numbers on it, right? It doesn’t define who you are.”

“Yeah, it just defines my future,” Dewey said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. 

“No, it doesn’t,” Louie said more firmly, “You make your own future. By working hard.”

“Get real, Louie! You don’t get anywhere without a high school diploma,” Dewey exclaimed, kicking the water. 

“You don’t think you’re gonna get your diploma?” Louie asked. When Dewey didn’t answer, he grabbed his shoulder. “Hey, look at me.”

Reluctantly, Dewey turned to face him. 

“You’re going to get your diploma. You’re gonna go to a nice college. And get a good job.”

Dewey just shook his head. “Only smart people do that, Lou.”

Louie gripped his shoulder. “You are smart!”

“Yeah, well, the world doesn’t want my kind of smart!” Dewey said angrily, whacking Louie’s hand away.

“Yes, it does,” Louie kept going, undeterred, “You’re artistically talented. Music, singing, making things. You—“

“Smart people only say that to make dumb people feel better about themselves. Nobody cares about that kind of stuff. None of it’s gonna get me anywhere.”

Louie shook his head. “You really are selling yourself short.”

“No,” said Dewey, “I’m just being realistic. You and Huey are gonna go off to college. I’m not.”

Louie glared. “Why?”

“Because I’m not school material,” Dewey replied simply. 

Louie took a deep breath, trying not to grow frustrated, or start shedding angry tears. “There’s nothing I can say to make you stop believing that?”

Dewey looked him in the eye. “Nerp.”

Louie sighed. “Then quit worrying about school. It isn’t for everyone. Go find your purpose. Do what you’re good at.”

“I literally just said, the world doesn’t want my kind of smart.”

“Who cares, dammit? Do it for yourself! Your purpose is for you, not the world!”

Dewey swallowed, eyes turning red. “What if my purpose doesn’t mean anything then?”

Louie looked at him and wrapped an arm around him. “It will.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I do.”

“How?”

“Because Dewey Duck doesn’t back down. Dewey Duck either goes big or goes home. And one day, Dewey’s gonna wake up, realize he’s smarter than he thinks, and tell his favourite brother ‘you were right, I was wrong’.”

“Favourite? I don’t have a favourite b—“

“Me. Louie Duck. Me. I’m your favourite brother.”

**Author's Note:**

> To those of you who’ve ever felt stupid, just don’t let it get you down too much. You let stuff get ya down, that’s the real reason you don’t succeed.  
> Try hard. Let that be enough for you. 
> 
> Thanks for reading.


End file.
